gem stone thumb studs

[pmike5869]

After getting some good advice here I orderred the thumbstuds and Rubies. Here they are; Had to drill them out a little to fit the rubies into the studs but it wasn't a problem. The stones were a push fit, very tight and I used some epoxy around the edge to hold them in. Stones are set just a little bit below the rim of the stud.

[gringo]

beautiful work.
in my jewelry work, i have found stones have a way of ignoring whatever type of cement one uses to place the stone. i run a burnishing tool around the edge of the cup holding the stone...gentle and slow...it creates a small ridge to help hold the stone in place...
just a suggestion.
again..they look wonderful..i hope i can do half as well someday.

donald.

[pmike5869]

Thx for the great advice, will do. I have been collecting colored stones for 5 yrs and have found that they do not respect epoxy very much. The surfaces are too slick to have much hold. I was a little concerned about losing them. I put loctite on the retaining screws. The good news is that the 6MM measurement they were sold as (plus or minus ...what?)was just a perfect press fit into the stud after I drilled out the bottom of the cup. Thought about several types of colored/precious stones and none seemed to fit my vision as well as rubies. Also they are really hard.

[gringo]

rubies are my favorite...i have hand polished several in my life...whew..if you think torquoise is tough...try forming a ruby with hand tools

[pmike5869]

Now this is strange; the only thing wrong with these stones is that they are perfect. Perfect corundum composition, cut, pigeon blood color, flawless, no inclusions, 1 ct, next hardest thing to diamonds, but they were made in a lab so... dirt cheap.

[gringo]

Now this is strange;

yep..the only man made stones in the pile here are those beautiful red earstuds.

i picked up that crystal ruby for 8 bucks..haven't the heart to cut or polish it. just hippiefied it with wire wrap an a chain. all the other stone is natural, no stablized.
now that i have seen your knives..i have some ideas how to use a few of these.
lapidary workers have suffered from the stablized/human created stones...i admit they are perfect.

[Diligence]

I'm really looking forward to hearing all your jeweler's tricks!

J